Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart.

First things first; this tart is devilishly delicious. I mean, take what you perceive as delicious and abandon that standard to be replaced by this particular tart.

Secondly; I'd like to disclose that this tart is not super healthy, nor is it trying to be. It is trying to be a yum and delicious dessert, and it is truly succeeding in that mission. That said, it is however, comparatively healthier than it's non-vegan alternatives as it does not contain any refined sugar or dairy. I also do not advocate eating the whole tart in one sitting because aside from essentially being physically impossible, that would also be most unhealthy. BUT, all things in moderation are good!!!

Anyway, in other related news, today my housemate declared that until he had met me, he though 'vegan dessert' meant something inherently healthy, namely fruit salad or, his words and not mine, 'lettuce' (for dessert? Really?!). Apparently he's one of those people that thought vegans only eat vegetables and fruit. WRONG. Anyway, he's lived with me for nearly 4 years and I guess you could say we know each other quite well now and that he is now 106% aware that vegan food doesn't have to be healthy, boring or tasteless. Anyway. I produced this tart to him for an impartial taste test (obviously I'm likely to be a little biased myself) and he declared it a winner and very much not fruit salad or lettuce!

This would make for the perfect dish to bring to a dinner party or friends house to impress all you (assumedly) non-vegan friends, and also because it's the kind of dish that you'd be best to share rather than give yourself a sugar coma by consuming alone! It's deliciously decadent, oozes chocolate and caramel and is essentially culinary perfection!

Ingredients:
The Pastry
1 1/2 cups plain flour
150gm vegan butter (I used Nuttelex)
2 tbsp coconut sugar
Water

1. Place the flour and coconut sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. Dice the butter (make sure it's room temp.) and add it into the bowl. Use clean hands to massage the butter into the flour/sugar mix until it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add in some water 1tbsp at a time, until the mixture sticks together like cookie dough and can be rolled without crumbling.
4. Roll it into a ball, cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Turn the oven to 180 degrees and allow to pre-heat.
5. Once chilled, roll the pastry to 1/2cm thick and line the tin. Trim and excess off and use of fork to prick the pastry all over.
6. Bake the pastry weighted for 15 minutes (I line the tin with some baking paper and fill it with rice). After 15 minutes, remove the weight and cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes, removing when the pastry is a light golden brown and cooked through.
7. Allow to cool while preparing the caramel and chocolate layers.


The Caramel
1/2 cup coconut sugar
3/4 cup coconut cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Pinch of salt
1 tsp cornflower

1. In a saucepan over low heat, combine all the caramel ingredients. Continually stir until smooth, well-combined and golden brown in colour.
2. In a small bowl/cup, combine the cornflower with 1tbsp water, whisking together with a fork until it is completely smooth.
3. Add the cornflower to the caramel and stir well. Place the thickened caramel in a bowl in the fridge.

The Chocolate Layer
250mL soy milk
3 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
200gm dairy free dark chocolate (I use Lindt)
1 tbsp cornflower

1. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the soy milk, coconut sugar and vanilla bean paste. Stir over low heat until the sugar has melted in fully and the mixture is smooth.
2. Take a small bowl/cup and combine the cornflower with 2 tbsp water, whisking together with a fork until it is completely smooth. Add to the milk mixture and stir through well.
3. Roughly chop the dark chocolate and add to the mixture. Stir well until fully melted, then remove from the heat.

To assemble, take the cooled pastry and pour the caramel layer over the bottom, spreading it evenly. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes or so (I usually make the chocolate layer while the caramel is cooling). After the caramel layer has set, pour the chocolate layer over the top and refrigerate overnight (or for a minimum of a few hours). Serve with some sneaky garnishing of some extra chocolate - my personal fav is Loving Earth Salted Caramel!

Thai Beef(less) Salad.

I love Thai food. Hands down, the best cuisine that there is. So tasty. So delicious. So many noodles. All of the herbs. 

In actual fact, I love Thai food so much that I even took my mum to Thailand in 2015 under the guise of cultural enrichment though really I was just there for the culinary experience. I mean, I did get kissed by a baby elephant, which was obviously amazing, so it wasn't all just food, but still, food was the whole reason I found myself there in the first place and I have zero regrets about that reality. 

Fortunately, a lot of Thai food can very easily be made vegan. But, one of my all-time favourite Thai dishes has always been the classic Thai Beef Salad and I've always felt somewhat troubled by the fact that if I take the beef out of it, and thereby make it vegan, can I really call it a Thai Beef Salad anymore...? But, I am not easily deterred nor was I about to abandon being able to enjoy of my my favourite dishes ever, so for a while now I've been working on creating my own interpretation of a vegan Thai Beef Salad and delightfully I've come up with this mighty fine dish, which goes down absolutely perfectly for lunch, dinner, as a dish to share at a party and also as a very random pre-breakfast snack on a Sunday morning, as it has just been for me...

It may not have any beef, but alas, in my opinion it perfectly captures the flavours of the famous original!

Ingredients;

The Salad

9 large Cos lettuce leaves, roughly chopped

Handful mixed coloured salad leaves (I use a baby spinach and baby red beetroot leaf mix)

3 shallots, thinly sliced

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

Handful Thai basil, roughly chopped

Handful fresh coriander leaves

Handful fresh mint leaves

1 cup bean shoots

1/2 continental cucumber, thinly sliced into strips 

1/2 avocado, thinly sliced (optional, non-traditional, though nevertheless a tasty addition)

125gm tofu
4 tbsp tamari (or reduced salt soy sauce - but use tamari if you're gluten intolerant)
Approx. 4 tbsp cornflower

The Dressing

1 tbsp tamari/soy sauce

1 tbsp water

1/2 lime, juiced

1 clove of crushed garlic

1 tsp minced chilli

2 tsp sesame seed oil

1 tbsp hoisin sauce (optional, though a very tasty addition)

1. Remove the tofu from the packaging. Use a sharp knife to slice the tofu into pieces approx. 0.5cm thick and 1cm wide. Take a plate and lay some absorbent paper towel on the plate. Lay the pieces of tofu onto the towel and cover with another piece of absorbent towel. Place this in the fridge for about two hours with something heavy sitting on the top (i.e. a skillet or bottle of milk, etc.). Using something heavy is important in helping to drain the tofu of any excess water which will inevitably be stored in the tofu from its packaging. Soggy tofu will never go crispy and will not absorb flavour as well as properly drained tofu.
2. After two hours retrieve the tofu from under previously mentioned heavy object. Grab a container that has a lid and lay the tofu strips into the container, then pour the tamari over the top. Depending on how large your container is you may need more tamari, because you should use enough to cover all the pieces so that they all absorb some of the sauce. Place the lid on and put the container in the fridge for at least 2 hours. 
3. When the tofu has properly marinated, remove it from the fridge. On a chopping board, sprinkle the cornflower generously. Taking one strip of tofu at a time, cover it well in the cornflower, before gently dusting off any excess. Repeat for all the strips.
4. Take a fry pan and place it over the heat. You want quite a hot pan, so turn the heat towards the higher end of the spectrum. Pour approx. 2 tbsp sesame oil into the pan and allow to heat. To check whether the pan is hot enough, flick some water into the pan and if the water sizzles and spits, then you're good to go! Do not use olive oil as it doesn't handle such hot temperatures as well as sesame oil (coconut oil is also another option that will work well, although you will end up with quite a different flavour). Carefully place all of the strips into the pan and cook for a minute or two on each side until they are a light golden brown. When cooked, remove from the heat and place on a new sheet of absorbent towel to remove any excess oil.

5. In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients and mix through together. 

6. In a small bowl/glass, combine the dressing ingredients and whisk together using a fork. 

7. Plate up the salad as per desired servings size and top with a generous drizzle of the dressing. Enjoy!

Choc-Raspberry Muffins.

HELLO!! Remember me?! Probably not....it has been a mighty long time since I've been around here sharing a new recipe after all.

Well, the good news is that I am alive and well. In actual fact, I am very much alive and very very well indeed. See, I've been off an a 7.5 month adventure around the world, finding myself waking up in the middle of the Jordanian desert in the heat of summer, licking fruity gelato off my fingers in the Serbian sunshine, throwing snowballs in the snowy hills of Austria and dealing with 3pm sunsets in Stockholm, as well as a whole heap of other wild and crazy places and adventures in between. The one downside of all that is that I've been having so much fun out in the world and living out of a suitcase that I haven't had a whole lot of time in the kitchen creating new and tasty things. BUT, the upside of that downside (#confusing) is that my head (and my stomach) are now full of lots of inspiration from around the world, and I plan on using the flavours of the places I've been to create some new and exciting recipes!

First things first, cake. More specifically, chocolate cake.

This recipe isn't exactly inspired by anything or anywhere in particular, though I must confess, every time I eat fresh raspberries I am taken back to wandering cobblestone streets in the European summer and sunshine. I only realised that retrospectively though, so I can't exactly claim it as inspiration...

Anyway. It's exceptionally fitting that one of the first things I've created since been back home is cake. I do love me some good cake. I also love me some cake batter, and it would be very much a lie to say that I did not have a few cheeky spoonfuls out of the bowl pre-oven. Chocolate and berries will forever be one of my favourite combinations, especially raspberries, which are arguably my favourite berry.

I'll stop telling you about my culinary preferences now though and get on with the real reason we're all here; CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY MUFFINS!

Ingredients;
125gm vegan butter (I used Nuttelex), softened to room temp.
1/2 cup raw sugar/coconut sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax meal + 6 tbsp water, mixed and allow to sit for 5 mins)
2 cups wholemeal flour (I use spelt flour)
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/3 cup raw cacao powder
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat a fan-forced oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar, butter and vanilla using an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the flax eggs, flour, baking powder, maple syrup, almond milk and cacao powder and mix in gently until just combined. Then mix together using an electric mixer on medium/high speed until well combined. Add in the chocolate chips and the raspberries and carefully fold them into the cake mix using a spoon.
4. Take a lined muffin tin and scoop approx. 2 tbsp of mixture into each muffin patty (depending on the size you're using, you may need more or less mixture). When all the patties are full, gently tap the tin on the table top to get air bubbles out.
5. Bake the muffins for approx. 15 - 20 minutes, keeping an eye on them that they do not burn. When cooked they should be firm to the touch.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
7. Serve with some raspberry-chia jam, some fresh raspberries and some extra vegan chocolate!